Our friend Ray Rickard, bicyclist, trail builder, and all-around good guy passed away on a cross country bicycle tour last week. We will miss him. Here are some memories:

From Jeff Potter

It’s hard to believe that my friend Ray is gone. The last I heard from Ray was several days ago after he received a trail work e-mail. He said he was on a ride across the USA and looked forward to trail work when he returned. Ray donated quite a bit of his time working on the Ash to Kings Canyon Trail. Everybody that has worked on the trail works hard, Ray took it to the next level. The guy was a machine. Ray did everything, clearing corridor, tread prep, rock work and finishing. He put his stamp on the trail. Some of my best memories are just the two of us working on the trail, quietly working for hours, then taking a lunch break overlooking Carson City, discussing trails, family, bike rides, politics, retirement, and everything in between. As his loss sinks in the days get more painful. I’m thankful for the time I spent with him over the years and especially the past two years as he became more involved with the trail project. Though he is gone, I know when I hike the new trail there will be areas that are just that much more special because my friend Ray was here. Thank you Ray

From Tim Rowe

I lost a good friend last week, my son Christopher lost his pseudo Grandpa and Carson City lost a good citizen and bicyclist. Ray Rickard died in his sleep last Saturday morning in Elk, OK. He was doing one of his dreams – riding across country. He had just completed day 13 of the 30 day adventure. I wish I had done the ride with him, as it is also a dream of mine. Yes, I had retired too but went back to back work and luckily in a bicycle job. I have known Ray for over 25 years and have ridden many miles with him or behind him. I think I first met him with Carson City Cycle People (CCCP). We always started together, rode together or did our pace but we always regrouped at the end and were even better friends every time. We have done so many rides; the Chico Wildflower, the Delta, the Wine Country, Sweetwater, Fallon No-Hill 100, Death Valley, Solvang, Shasta, Crater Lake and Fall River to name a few century rides. But we also did the Davis Double and the Terrible Two and the week-long Cycle Oregon. The ride with the most memories and stories was “Death Valley-The Hot One”. Ray and another good friend John started the century at Furnace Creek at 9:00 pm and it was still 120 or so (the temperature gets hotter as the years go on). Ray started the ride with a flat but that never phased him and we all went on. We rode to Badwater in a horrific head wind, like riding into a hair-dryer the whole way in the moon light and turned around at 50 miles to still have a head wind – getting back at 5:00am – still 98 degrees. That was the most dangerous ride we ever did due to the very low humidity and keeping your fluids and senses up but that ride had the most story telling.
Ray also helped the Alta Alpina Cycling Club (AACC) and even served on the Board of Directors when I was President. He really didn’t want to be Secretary but he did it for his friend and did it well. Ray also help on many AACC events over the years – The Death Ride, Pinenut Cracker Mountain Bike race, The Carson Valley Classic Race series, weekly road and mountain bike rides, Cyclocross races, and now the Alta Alpina Challenge. Ray was also involved with the Lake Tahoe Mountain Bike Patrol and helped so many riders on the trails over the years. After retirement Ray really kicked in helping with trail building with Muscle Powered. Ray was great with helping kids with the Ski Program and taught my son how to ski and later how to mountain bike ride.
He also helped with Boy Scouts and was involved with Troop 341 with his son Jarrod and later he helped my son with his Pinewood Derby cars and bicycle rodeos. Ray and Char always supported our son and came to so many events, including Christopher’s play at Jacks Valley School and Mulan at the BAC right before he left on his last adventure.
Ray was always there and always with his huge smile, a positive & honest attitude and tons of patience! Ray was a great person to talk with as he always had an opinion but always listened to the other guy. Ray was a huge source or information and did his research and trials with many bicycles in his collection. You could ask Ray anything and he could tell you anything– like on recumbent and now electric bicycles. Many great conversations keep us all awake driving back after many rides. Ray you will be missed but thanks for the memories and pulls in the Paceline of life! We know we will meet and ride again!

Muscle-Powered-organized ride in Carson City. The Nevada Complete Streets bill may provide funding for improvements such as bike lanes on this street in Carson City.

The Nevada Complete Streets bill was designed to provide a local funding source for transportation improvements to make local streets “Complete Streets” – streets that are safe and inviting for people using all transportation modes – walkers, baby strollers, people using canes, people using wheelchairs, bicyclist, buses, trolleys – rather than just for cars and trucks.

The bill would have provided an opt-out fee of $2 on all Nevada motor vehicle registrations, with the fee going directly to local transportation agencies to use only on complete streets projects – projects like bike lanes, curb ramps for wheelchairs, safety improvements near schools, bike boulevards and more.

The good news is that the bill passed.

The bad news is that the bill won’t be implemented until the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles finds some funding to make the changes to their computer system that would allow them to collect the fee.

Government by fiscal note

In the Nevada legislature, state agencies are asked to put a fiscal note on bills being considered by lawmakers. That means the agency goes through the bill and estimates how much it will cost to implement it. When the DMV looked at the Complete Streets bill, the agency estimated it would cost over $225,000 to implement the bill – this was mostly to pay for contract computer programmers.

This large a fiscal note, in these constrained times, is the death of a bill. In an Assembly committee hearing on the bill, Assemblyman Dave Bobzien expressed frustration at this, noting that he has seen more than one good bill go down because the DMV never has enough money to upgrade its computer system.

But bill supporters scrambled for a solution, and in meetings with DMV administrators, crafted amendments that would essentially put off implementation of the bill until funding was available for the DMV to add the complete streets fees to its system. The amended bill passed both houses unanimously and was signed by the governor.

Nevada Complete Streets advocates say they’re considering bringing the bill back to the 2015 legislative session, this time as a mandatory fee, which wouldn’t cost so much to implement.

Next month is Bike Month and there are plenty of activities planned in Carson City. We kick off on April 24 with Nevada Moves Day at the State Legislature. Muscle Powered is organizing exhibits in the front foyer of the legislative building highlighting Nevada groups working for better walking and biking. Participants include the Reno Bike Project, Safe Routes to Schools, the Carson Valley Trails Association and more. Muscle Powered members will invite legislators on a one-hour walk from 7 to 8 am starting from the legislative building, highlighting complete and not-so-complete streets in downtown Carson City. Exhibits will be up all day long – this is a good opportunity to visit what everyone during the session calls simply “the building,” so come down and say hello.

Rides

Next up is Bike Habitat’s Tour de Carson on Sunday, May 5. This popular ride starts from Bike Habitat in the Topsy Lane shopping center, circles Carson City, then ends up back at Bike Habitat for a barbecue.

Jenny Scanland is leading Slow Spokes Rides every Wednesday at 5:15 pm through June. Contact Jenny at jscanland@charter.net, 684 2787

Several years ago Jeff Potter picked up then-City Supervisor Shelly Aldean on his tandem and they rode to work together on the first day of Bike To Work Week. This has evolved into a Celebrity Ride where community leaders are invited to join Muscle Powered members on a leisurely hour-long ride around Carson City’s west side. Last year we were joined by the mayor, the sheriff, and several City department heads. This year we have invited state officials as well, so we’ll see who shows up. The Celebrity Ride will be on Tuesday, May 7.

One of the most popular events of Bike Month, the Cruiser Ride, will take place on Wednesday, May 15. Ride your prettiest bike. Costumes – for both bikes and riders – are not mandatory but welcome.

Vietnam Veterans of America family bike ride will take place on Saturday May 18, just before the end-of-Bike-Week party.

Artists

Local Gallery Artsy Fartsy is hosting a tricycle yard art contest. The trikes will be decorated by local artists, and will be sold by silent auction. The gallery will also show bicycle-themed art throughout the month.

Bike to Work Week

Of course the whole purpose of Bike Month – besides to have fun, which is always important – is to encourage biking for transportation. Bike to Work Week is May 13-17. Bike to Work DAY is May 17. We are organizing another Corporate/Agency Challenge this year, so you can compete for most miles ridden during the week as an individual or team, and get your chance to hold on to our enormous Bike Trophy for a year. Contact Jeff Potter through this site if you want to take part. Jenny Scanland is hosting a Bike Commute Station in the state’s Bryan Building (901 S. Stewart St) on May 1,2, and 3 to share tips for bike commuting. There will be free coffee for bike commuters on Bike to Work Day May 17 at various locations – check here or on our Facebook page for details.

Parties and other events

The End-of-Bike-Week Party will be Saturday, May 18, 3-6 pm, on West Telegraph Street by Telegraph Square in downtown Carson City. There will be a raffle including 2 cruiser bikes, bands, food trucks, tricycle races, and more.

This isn’t all. Other events include a bike social at Tap Shack, a women’s bike clinic led by Muscle Powered board member Cortney Bloomer, a bike movie at Sassafras, potentially a showing of Rick Gunn’s popular Soul Cycler slide show and more. Check back for info as these events are lined up.

The notion of putting downtown Carson Street on a “Road Diet” has emerged again, this time championed by local business owner Doreen Mack. According to Dan Burden, a consultant who coined the term and now travels the country helping cities figure out how to put their roads on a diet, “A road diet is anytime you take any lane out of a road.”

According to Streetfilms (www.streetfilms.org) “Road diets are good for pedestrians: They reduce speeding and make vehicle movements more predictable while shortening crossing distances. They’re good for cyclists: Many road diets shift space from car lanes to create bike lanes. They’re good for drivers: Less speeding improves safety for motorists and passengers, and providing left-turn pockets allows through traffic to proceed without shifting lanes or waiting behind turning vehicles.”

You might remember that NDOT gave Carson Street back to Carson City a couple of years ago. We – that is, broadly, the people of Carson City – own and maintain it now. The City planned to redesign Carson Street to make it more friendly to pedestrians – and to downtown businesses – when the City undertook ownership. Unfortunately, that idea, like many others, was shelved during the great recession that has had such a continuing impact on our state.

Meanwhile, downtown businesses suffer. Who wants to walk downtown except on Nevada Day or during Taste of Downtown? Yet downtown businesses need pedestrian traffic to stay alive. As Doreen says, “Downtown parking and fence removal is essential for retail shop owners and customers. It creates synergy. When people see activity, they want to stop and see what is going on. In essence (a road diet) would create more foot traffic and bring in more business for the shops in surrounding areas, not to mention more jobs.

There will be a informational meeting about the Carson Street road diet on August 21 at 5 pm in the Sierra Room of the Carson City Community Center.